Unauthorized Disclosure

Thank you for supporting the Unauthorized Disclosure weekly podcast. Rania Khalek was in Ethiopia with a Breakthrough News team, and we look forward to bringing you an episode in the next week or so that digs into what she witnessed and uncovered about the conflict and violence and destruction by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). But we still wanted you to have an episode so this week Kevin Gosztola highlights some of Rania's reporting that she managed to share. He also shares some of his commentary on the British High Court decision, which granted the US government's appeal and moved WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange closer to extradition.

***Thank you for listening to this free version of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" weekly podcast hosted by Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola.***   Zoe Alexandra, a journalist with People's Dispatch, joins the show to discuss the election in Honduras, where left-wing presidential campaign of Xiomara Castro triumphed at the polls.   Going back to 2009, the United States backed a coup that forced President Manuel Zelaya out of power. The U.S. backed a fraudulent election in 2017. His wife, Xiomara, won in a free and fair election that somewhat astonishingly is not being contested by the U.S. government. That likely reflects just how corrupt and terrible 12 years of right-wing National Party rule has been for the people of Honduras.   Zoe describes the deeply entrenched problems fueled by outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez and the role of the U.S. in making the root causes of poverty and violence worse through neoliberal exploitation, expansion of policing, and militarization of the country.

Krish Mohan, a radical comedian and the creator of "Road Reflections" and "Taboo Table Talk," joins Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola to talk about his work producing political comedy. We discuss how comedy actually got worse under Donald Trump and what it is like now with President Joe Biden.    Later in the show, Krish describes some of the topics he covers in his comedy, and the conversation veers into identity, representation, stereotypes, and people who disrupt comedians while they're on stage. *Episode unlocked for all listeners.

In this free edition of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" weekly podcast, Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola talk with Grayzone assistant editor Ben Norton about the United States' hybrid war against Nicaragua that is entering a new phase as the elections in November approach.

In this free version of Unauthorized Disclosure, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola discuss Facebook's secret blacklist, as revealed by Sam Biddle of the Intercept. They also talk about a Facebook whistleblower (not the one who orchestrated a public relations campaign).

The episode first released to subscribers. This is a cut and edited version. Subscribe for full and uncut episodes of the Unauthorized Disclosure podcast. David McBride is a former military lawyer in the Royal Australia Regiment and Australia Special Forces. He completed two tours in Afghanistan and submitted an internal complaint against what he witnessed in the war. He immediately faced scrutiny and harassment. A few years later, David found journalists with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation who were willing to listen to him. They were interested in classified documents that showed the reality of Australia’s involvement in the war. What David had to reveal was published as “The Afghan Files.” It was a “quite a big story in Australia,” according to him. But the Australia government responded by raiding the ABC and targeting David with a prosecution for an espionage offense. In this episode from the “Unauthorized Disclosure” podcast, which Kevin Gosztola typically co-hosts with Rania Khalek, Kevin speaks with David about his deployments to Afghanistan. He shares his view on how the last several weeks, as the United States withdrew forces and then mounted an unprecedented evacuation effort with a mostly cooperative Taliban. *For more on whistleblower stories, subscribe to The Dissenter: https://thedissenter.org/#/portal/signup

Sara Flounders, a longtime activist and co-director of the International Action Center, joins the "Unauthorized Disclosure" weekly podcast to discuss the campaign to free Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. He was jailed in Cabo Verde while trying to obtain food and gasoline for Venezuelans from Iran. He faces extradition as part of lawfare by the U.S. to enforce crippling sanctions against Venezuela. Sara recently visited Cabo Verde with a delegation. She describes solidarity efforts that are underway, as well as some of the wider organizing she has done to show sanctions are not a peaceful alternative to war. She also outlines how the US is able to count on Cabo Verde to act as a client state and submit to their demands to violate human rights and international law.

In this free clip from a premium episode of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" weekly podcast, hosts Rania Khalek and Kevin Gosztola comment on the petty smear campaigning of the Young Turks of the past  few weeks and what their attacks on journalist Aaron Mate for his coverage of Syria say about progressive media.

We hope you appreciate this free episode of the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast with Max Ajl, a postdoctoral fellow with the Rural Sociology Group at  Wageningen University and author of the book, "A People's Green New Deal."   During our interview, Max outlines what a People's Green New Deal would  look like and why we need a People's Green New Deal instead of the Green New Deal that is favored by most progressive Democrats.    Ajl addresses the flawed rosy proclamations from business leaders around technology being able to save us from climate catastrophe and the ways the capitalist class is co-opting energy around calls to action. ***Access premium content from the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast by becoming a subscriber at Rokfin.com/UnauthorizedDis***

In this free version of the weekly "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast, Jordan Chariton, a journalist and co-founder of Status Coup, joins the "Unauthorized Disclosure" podcast to discuss YouTube's censorship regime, the importance of independent media solidarity, and navigating a media landscape dominated by establishment media gatekeepers.